Easy ways to spend less on your computer…

Everything I do has something to do with a computer. Whether I am searching the Internet on my computer to find a florist, writing an email to a client, even going out for the day has something to do with……

[...] 7th: Easy ways to spend less on your computer (a guest post from Cliff [...]

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For these users, and myself, an Apple Mac realyl does break free the shackles of personally maintaining a PC in order to keep it working. Defragging, anti-virus and anti-spyware scanning and updating, etc. I had gone down the road that you suggested and at first it was fun, updating and upgrading (mostly to play games). Now, I have my weekends hassle-free and able to take my girlfriend out rather than stay indoors reinstalling windows.

Time is money. It is also irreplaceable. You can always spend money hiring a techie to maintain your computer, but you also have a cost of taking time to bring the PC to the computer shop for repair, or sitting around while an engineer arrives at your home, or even waste time hanging on for customer telephone support. These things do not have a price tag until you start calculating: How much is your personal time worth?

I was able to make an addendum to the article just before J.D. posted it, saying just that.

“As of May 1, Dell now offers Ubuntu pre-installed on some systems.”

I wish there was a way to get cheaper Macs. I’m ready to switch, but find that even the refurbished Macs are costly to me.

I’m thinking that I feel this way because I made my initial computer investment many moons ago, and over the years have replaced various guts in my PC to newer versions. I’m used to paying 300 bucks every couple of years on a new motherboard and CPU (RAM, too, sometimes) while keeping the same video card, monitor and other peripherals. Side note: using the same computer case from 1999 can be effective, but the end result is poor ventilation and heat issues in 2007.

With Macs, it’s all or nothing. Not that will stop me from switching.

I know that iPod support is not 100% US, but as far as I know, 100% of Mac support is in the US. And that’s not even accounting for the genius bar

Some of the benefits have been great image software (GIMP), increased productivity (I’m learning the shortcuts), and super-fast boot times (my dad’s windows takes over 10 minutes to load, my old windows took about 4-5 minutes, now linux takes less than one.)

Some negatives are: trying to get it to network and the two days it took to get the wireless internet to work (it didn’t have a linux driver, and I’d never used linux before). Learning all the new stuff can be a hassle, but it’s worth the effort.

I’m never going to buy windows ever again. What a gyp!

Apple opened its first call center in India about 2 years ago, but shut it down about 6 months later. I think you just fell in that “lucky” window. All of their phone support is again U.S.-based now.

Still love the Mac.

I’ve found that since I switched to the Mac, the amount of time I’ve spent *managing* my computer has dropped to almost zero. This is compared to when I was using Windows and had to make sure my antivirus, firewall and several anti-spyware programs were all up to date and performing regular scans just to stay on top of the virus/spyware problem (yes, I was using FireFox/Thunderbird et. al.). And then there’s the optimisation tasks like defragging and so on.

I can sit down on my Mac, do whatever I need to do, and leave. That’s it. The end. No more micro-managing my computer. So, while Macs may/may not be more expensive than PC equivalents, for me at least the time I’ve saved using a Mac instead of a Windows machine has been enormous, and well worth any extra up-front cost. This is in addition to all the other niceities like the great hardware design and more intuitive, elegant software.

Now if only I can get the rest of my family and friends to switch over so I can spend less time managing *their* computers… (yes, I’m one of the geeks referred to above that gets ‘tapped’ when the computer starts misbehaving).

Nick

HOWEVER, it doesn’t slow things down, either. What partitioning does, is enforce logical boundaries for your convenience. For example: if you reformat Windows often (a friend does this once per year, minimum), putting Windows on its own partition separate from programs and documents makes this process quicker and more convenient.

@KiloSeven
You’re really good at FUD, but you were only right about #1. Take a look at WinInternals and a few other sites about how Windows works.

1. Windows installs onto the same partition as application programs, yet Windows constantly fragments its files, by design. Every ‘hotfix’, ‘security patch’ and ‘update’ fragments files, as do the Icon Cache, the Driver Cache and the Hibernation file (if used).

2. The Windows Registry fragments. The Registry is an anti-copying device; programs refer to it constantly to make sure their secret little bits of data are there to show your program was installed legitimately. However, nearly everything else in Windows goes there, too, and changes are frequent.

So, the ‘programs’ files do fragment.

However, splitting one drive into partitions slows down the file access, so the end result is a slower system than a single-partition system which was recently defragmented.

A better, simpler approach is to fix the size of the Swap File, which is the largest single source of fragmentation. If, as soon as you install Windows, you go to Start | Settings | Control Panel | System | Advanced | Performance | and set the minimum and maximum swap file size to the same, 2.5x chip memory, then the swap file stays in the same place, and doesn’t fragment your drive.

Don’t bother with Hibernation, which also amplifies the fragmentation problem.

Macs: Easy to use, reliable, and GREAT tech support at the apple store (in my experience, but not everyone lives close enough to one…) If you’re purchasing a mac, I HIGHLY recommend going to store.apple.com and looking at refurbished models. They’re held to the same standard as new products, only the one faulty component has already broken. I would therefore argue that they’re slightly MORE reliable.

The Cheapest Speed Boost: Reformat your hard drive and reinstall windows from scratch. It will (completely) clear out the programs you don’t use any more. Uninstall doesn’t do as well. It will be the most thorough defrag you could run. And it will afford you an easy opportunity for the second speed boost I suggest.

The Second Speed Boost: Partition your drive to keep your swap file and your “my documents” separate from your program files. The program files won’t get fragmented and will keep running smoothly, while your documents and swap drive can be defragmented more quickly than the WHOLE drive. Google it. It’s complicated.

Final Suggestion: Compensate your geek. not only will this make him/her more willing to help, but it will also give them more reason to be as thorough as possible. This covers everything from buying new (they can shop on newegg and build from scratch) to figuring out linux to getting windows cleaned out or reinstalled, to fixing a bug to installing some new hardware.

Sites: Newegg is my absolute favorite. Pricegrabber will show you great price comparisons. Crucial.com has a great memory tool to find out what you need. CompUSA seems to have some of the best local laptop deals. BHPhotoVideo.com is the best place for photography gear imho.

And it’s 5:30. I’m outta here. GREAT post!

Funny you should mention, I own a Mac and a Honda.

I really can’t comment on reliability, since I haven’t owned one long-term but I can comment on maintenance. Much like an expensive car, you will get reamed for maintenance if it ever crops up. Parts replacement on the not-super-high-end Macs is almost or frequently impossible. Just try adding more memory to your mini mac.

I can comment on the reliability of normal PC hardware – its pretty good. As long as you don’t get bottom of the road, you can generally expect the machine to run longer than you’d like it to – no matter whether its a mac or a PC.

Now, software does get to be an issue. It’s the biggest thing to get screwed up in a computer, far outweighing the physical components. Here is where OSX shines. Virus and Malware writers don’t give a shit about OSX – so there really isn’t any crap for it. Also, the free software available for the mac tends to be from much higher quality independents rather than Bonzai Buddy Corporations or Weather Bug Installers, Inc..

Also, the up front cost gap becomes less prominant if you are looking for a more powerful machine.

I didn’t mention Macs in my article for a very good reason: I don’t own one. Nor have I ever supported more than 2 in my years on the job. I wrote the article from the perspective of an expert. I am certainly not an expert in Macs, so I didn’t talk about them. The omission was intentional, but based on my ignorance of the subject.

@Jordan
I think Andy’s position is that TCO is lower on a Mac. Which may or may not be the case, I’ve no experience with Macs to be able to say one way or the other.